


To go outside, and there perchance to stay

by thewightknight



Series: The Meetcute Collection [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Awkward Flirting, Cats are the best, Coffee Shops, Cute, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, M/M, Pre-Romance, gender fluid hux, hipster ben solo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 12:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7574416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewightknight/pseuds/thewightknight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every morning, sometime between eight-thirty and nine-thirty, a gorgeous ginger-haired grump came in to Starkiller Café for a triple tall latte, extra foam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To go outside, and there perchance to stay

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from [Hamlet's cat's soliloquy](http://bertc.com/subfour/truth/hamcat.htm).

Every morning, sometime between eight-thirty and nine-thirty, a gorgeous ginger-haired grump came in to Starkiller Café for a triple tall latte, extra foam. He’d sit at a table for twenty to thirty minutes, sipping at his drink while he tapped away at either his phone or his tablet, bussed his own table, and left. Ben never had any luck engaging him in conversation. He never said anything except his drink order. Ben’s attempts were always brushed off with a scowl and either grunts or an elegant wave of a glove-clad hand. But for some reason, he kept coming back, every morning, Monday through Saturday. 

The man’s irascible nature had annoyed Ben at first, but after a few visits he’d taken it as a challenge. This was a man who was obviously always in serious need of a caffeine boost and Ben would by gods make sure he got what he needed. He began taking extra care with the man’s drinks, trying him on different roasts to see if he could get any reaction, pouring increasingly intricate designs into the foam as the weeks progressed. 

The man always tipped, at least, and he was oh so easy on the eyes. He dressed impeccably in a series of tailored suits, each in a tasteful neutral color, offset with pastel ties that contrasted with his bright hair. That hair seemed to exist in a perpetual state of perfect dishevelment, and from the looks of it he had to spend hours grooming his luxuriant beard. Without fail he was always wearing gloves, no matter the weather. And best of all in Ben’s opinion, he was always sporting a pair of stylish heels. Ben was used to towering over his customers but the two of them were of a height and his heels always put him an inch or two taller. Being able to look up at someone, however slightly, was a novel experience.

Ben liked to think it wasn’t his imagination, that his gaze would linger on Ben's face a few moments longer on the days when he braided his hair, or that he might be watching as Ben made his drink, admiring the way the muscles in his shoulders moved on the days when he wore a scoop-necked shirt. 

It took over two months before he managed to get a name out of his mystery man. It might have taken longer, but a tour bus had broken down right outside the café one morning and he rolled with it, Starbucks style, writing out all the customers names with a flourish on paper cups when he ran out of clean mugs. Ben saw him hesitate at the threshold as he took in the crowd and almost thought he was going to turn around and leave when he saw how packed the café was, but after a moment he waded through the crowd to the counter. 

Heads turned as he walked past and Ben could see him squaring his shoulders, ignoring their stares. His name was Hux. Just Hux, he insisted. Ben wrote “just Hux” on the cup and swore he saw a corner of his mouth twitch under the beard. Ben almost wrote his phone number on the cup too but chickened out at the last minute, then spent the next three weeks berating himself for the lost opportunity. 

By the end of the fourth month he was getting an actual, honest to goodness “hello” in return to his greetings, and sometime during the fifth month he’d started getting the occasional smile. At this rate, he thought he might be able to work up to asking for a date in, say, another couple of years. And then one day, as he was taking out the garbage right before closing, everything changed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Damnit!”

The voice echoed off the brick walls, coming from further down the alley. It was dim back here, the buildings blocking out the afternoon sunlight, but Ben thought he caught a glimpse of familiar red hair sticking up above the dumpster four doors down.

“Um, hello? Is everything okay?” Yes, that was his mysterious customer, but what on earth was he doing rooting through the garbage? Ben would never have pegged him for a dumpster diver.

“Oh, thank goodness! Can you give me a hand here?”

That was the most words strung together he’d ever heard out of Hux’s mouth so on that basis alone he was morally obligated to help Hux with anything he might need. He crossed his fingers that there weren’t any bodies involved.

“What’s the matter?” he asked as he approached.

“Normally people just dump them in boxes in the alley, but some asshole threw this one actually in a dumpster. Can you believe?”

“What one?” Ben asked, confused

“That one.” Hux pointed inside the dumpster

Well, that was helpful. But as he approached he began to hear a pitiful mewing sounding from within the dumpster. When he reached Hux’s side and looked into the dumpster he saw a miniscule ball of orange fur with green eyes staring up at him.

“Oh, the poor thing!”

That morning had been collection day so the dumpster was almost empty and try as he might he couldn’t reach the kitten no matter how much he strained. 

“Okay, hang on.” He hoisted himself up over the edge and dropped down inside. The kitten skittered out of the way, hissing in surprise.

“It’s okay. C’mere, little fella.” He hunched down, trying give off unthreatening vibes, and with a little coaxing the kitten let him pick it up. It looked even tinier cradled in the palm of his hand. He handed it out to Hux carefully, and heaved himself back out after it. 

“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re safe now. I’m going to take good care of you!”

Ben blinked in surprise. How was this the same man who’d only just begun to smile at him? Everything about him had softened as he cradled the kitten, practically beaming as he cuddled it to his chest. 

“Um, okay, I’m going to head back in. Unless you need something else?”

Hux didn’t even glance up from the kitten. “No, thank you.” He started off up the alley without looking back, still crooning at the now purring feline. Ben watched him go, heart doing painful things in his chest.

  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ben spent the rest of the day and the start of the next bouncing between moods, alternating between highs as he remembered the gloriousness of Hux’s smile and lows when he remembered that the smile hadn’t been directed at him.

It was a busy morning and he had a steady stream of customers for once, so much so that it wasn’t until the doorbell rang, signaling his daily milk delivery, that he realized it was past ten o’clock now and Hux hadn’t yet come in. The day continued to go downhill from there.

He scalded himself with the steamer and barely restrained himself from swearing and throwing the milk pitcher. Favoring his wounded hand, he lost his grip on a tray of mugs and three of them shattered when they hit the floor. The soy milk in the cooler had turned and when he went to get a new carton he saw it was past its best by date. The lunch rush came and he made it through with a fake smile plastered on his face. By twelve-thirty the café was empty and he knew he should worry about the lack of sales but instead he just watched as the hands crept closer and closer to one p.m. 

He’d started to count the till with five minutes to go when the bell over the door rang out. Ben could feel the goofy grin split his face and couldn’t do anything about it as Hux finally walked in. He looked … rough. His hair fell down across his forehead, blown straight past artfully disheveled and into bedhead territory. He had dark circles under his eyes and his shirt was unbuttoned under his jacket, missing its usual neat necktie. One gloved hand held the little orange kitten against his chest, where it seemed to be sound asleep.

“I know you’re about to close, but could I get a cup to go? I’ve been up all night with this one.”

Ben realized he was staring and sprang into action.

“Is it okay?” Were they about to have a conversation at last? He couldn’t believe it.

“The vet said she should make it. She’s just too young to have been separated from her mother. I probably could have left her behind, but then I would have worried the whole time.”

Desperate to keep Hux talking, Ben cast about for some way to continue the conversation.

“So you’re a cat person?”

Hux grimaced, an adorable expression, his nose scrunching up and the skin at his eyes crinkling. “I didn’t used to be, but earlier this year I found a stray in the alley. It was obviously someone’s pet. I put up flyers and everything but no one ever claimed it, so I kept him. There was another one a few weeks later, and then another. It seems like when people don’t want their cats anymore they just throw them out and somehow they all do it here.” 

“So you come in here all the time because you’re checking our alley for strays?” He tried not to sound too disappointed.

Hux started to say something, then stopped himself, and he blushed, staring down at the counter. “Well, maybe at first. But your coffee’s excellent.” That last bit came out in a rush and then Hux began a juggling act, trying to get his wallet out without jostling the kitten, and Ben waved him off.

“It’s on the house today. Payment for good deeds done.”

That earned him a heart-melting smile and he grinned in return.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cats were the key. Hux named the little kitten Millicent. He also had a sleek black tom with dark eyes that he called Mikata and a seal point Siamese named Phasma. There were others, eight altogether, but Ben couldn’t keep the rest of them straight. 

“Eight? You have eight cats?”

“I tried getting adopting them out, but there’s been so many I’ve run out of options. I don’t know what I’m going to do if this keeps up. My condo’s only so big.” 

“Hmmmm….” An idea had begun to form, but Ben didn’t want to say anything until he’d done some research.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hux stopped short when he entered the café. There was a person behind the counter who was not Ben. She was a cute little thing, brown hair done up in three buns, with a smile that probably broke hearts right and left, and she seemed to know her way around an espresso machine. But she was still not Ben. Frowning, he made his way up to the counter.

“Triple tall latte, right?” Hux blinked in surprise at the girl. “You’re Hux, right? Ben talks about you all the time.”

He gaped at her and she winked in return.

“He’s off meeting with the owner. Should be back soon.” She was efficient but noisy, chattering away as she made his drink. “It’s so exciting! He’s been worried about this place, you know, making ends meet. But this should change everything!”

“I’m sorry, what?” Hux was totally lost.

Rey stopped for a moment, and her eyes got big. “Oh, he hasn’t said anything to you about it? I didn’t know. I can’t say anything else, then. He’d hate it if I spoiled the surprise.”

Hux couldn’t get anything else out of her. His eyebrows shot up when she presented him with his latte. She’d made a cat face in the foam. He’d have tried to pump her for more information but another customer came in. Settling himself at his usual table, he sipped at his drink, ignoring the conspiratorial looks and grins she kept shooting in his direction. He could be stubborn too.

He’d finished both the latte and the articles he’d bookmarked and was considering whether he should order a second or not when Ben finally burst through the door.

“Rey! He said yes! We’re a go!”

The girl behind the counter gave a whoop, bouncing up and down, and Ben crossed the room in a few gigantic strides, wrapping her up in a hug and then swinging her around with a whoop of his own. 

Hux was staring, he knew, but he couldn’t help himself, caught up in Ben’s obvious joy and feeling a matching grin tug at the corners of his mouth even though he had no idea why the other two were so happy.

The girl, Rey, caught him watching and poked Ben in the ribs, jerking her head in his direction. 

“Hux! Guess what? We’re going to be a cat café!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The _Vet Fund_ container at the register sported Millicent’s pert little nose and huge green eyes. A massive cat tree fit perfectly into the weird little space where a sad potted plant used to sit. Rey’s “catpuccinos” and “pawchiatos” were a huge hit. Framed pictures of “former residents” with their new owners dotted the walls. Hux had designed the new logo, and had refused when Ben tried to pay him for it. They already had a partnership with one of the local shelters, and were working out the logistics with a second. Ben had expanded the café’s hours and they were even discussing starting a Sunday brunch. And oh, yes! He’d finally asked Hux out on a date, and Hux had said yes. Life was good. 

**Author's Note:**

> I've finally gone and done it - the coffee shop AU. This is all the fault of [the-pudding-is-a-lie](http://the-pudding-is-a-lie.tumblr.com/) and [courgette96](http://courgette96.tumblr.com/), who headcanon'd genderfluid hux and the cat cafe idea and graciously let me play in their litterbox. Check out the awesome art that inspired this story [here](http://the-pudding-is-a-lie.tumblr.com/post/147652209557/happy-trans-tuesday-brought-to-you-by) and [here](http://the-pudding-is-a-lie.tumblr.com/post/148013322407/a-bit-late-today-but-here-it-is-this-weeks)!
> 
> Feel free to come say hi over on [tumblr](http://thewightknight.tumblr.com/).


End file.
